The Art of Nonfiction

Rand takes listeners step by step through the writing process, providing insightful observations and invaluable techniques along the way. She discusses the psychological aspects of writing and the roles played by the conscious and subconscious mind. She talks about articles and books, explaining how to select a subject and theme, how to identify your audience, and how to write the first draft.

The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature

In this beautifully written and brilliantly reasoned collection of essays, Ayn Rand throws new light on the nature of art and its purpose in human life. Once again, she demonstrates her bold originality and her refusal to let conventional ideas define her sense of the truth. Rand eloquently asserts that one cannot create art without infusing it with one's own value judgments and personal philosophy - even an attempt to withhold moral overtones only results in a deterministic or naturalistic message.

We the Living

We the Living portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives. At its center is a girl whose passionate love is her fortress against the cruelty and oppression of a totalitarian state. Rand said of this book: "It is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write."

Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

This brilliantly conceived book is based on a lecture course given by Dr. Leonard Peikoff in 1976 entitled, "The Philosophy of Objectivism". The lectures were attended by Ayn Rand, who helped prepare them and who also joined Peikoff in answering questions.

Stein on Writing: A Master Editor Shares His Craft, Techniques, and Strategies

Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether newcomers or accomplished professionals. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions, how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."

Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A

After the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, Ayn Rand occasionally lectured in order to bring her philosophy of Objectivism to a wider audience and apply it to current cultural and political issues. These taped lectures and the question-and-answer sessions that followed added not only an eloquent new dimension to Ayn Rand's ideas and beliefs, but a fresh and spontaneous insight into Ayn Rand herself.

Philosophy: Who Needs It

Who needs philosophy? Ayn Rand's answer: Everyone. This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. According to Ayn Rand, the choice we make is not whether to have a philosophy, but which one to have: a rational, conscious, and therefore practical one, or a contradictory, unidentified, and ultimately lethal one.

For the New Intellectual

This is Ayn Rand's challenge to the prevalent philosophical doctrines of our time and the "atmosphere of guilt, of panic, of despair, of boredom, and of all-pervasive evasion" that they create. One of the most controversial figures on the intellectual scene, Ayn Rand was the proponent of a moral philosophy, an ethic of rational self-interest, that stands in sharp opposition to the ethics of altruism and self-sacrifice.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

The foundations of capitalism are being battered by a flood of altruism, which is the cause of the modern world's collapse. This was the view of Ayn Rand, a view so radically opposed to prevailing attitudes that it constituted a major philosophic revolution. In this series of essays, she presented her stand on the persecution of big business, the causes of war, the default of conservatism, and the evils of altruism.

The Virtue of Selfishness

Ayn Rand here sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, the philosophy that holds human life - the life proper to a rational being - as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with human nature, with the creative requirement of survival, and with a free society.

Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen

In Dialogue, Robert McKee offers in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbeth to Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech.

Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story

Why do some stories work and others don't? The answer is structure. In this IPPY and NIEA Award-winning guide from the author of the bestselling Outlining Your Novel, you will discover the universal underpinnings that guarantee powerful plot and character arcs. An understanding of proper story and scene structure will help you to not only perfectly time your story's major events, but will also provide you with an unerring standard to use in evaluating your novel's pacing and progression.

Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

In the 1960s and early '70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.

Writing Deep Point of View: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors (Writer's Craft, Book 13)

In this book, I'll reveal the powerful techniques employed by best-selling authors, and I'll show you how to apply them to rivet your readers. I'll start with the basics of Point of View - if you're already familiar with the concept, you can treat them as a refresher - and then guide you to advanced strategies for taking your reader deep.

The Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers

The Secrets of Story is a revolutionary and comprehensive writing guide for the 21st century, focused on clever ways to get an audience to fully identify with an all-too-human hero. Authors will learn to how to cut through pop culture noise and win over a jaded modern audience by rediscovering the heart of writing: shaping stories that ring true to our shared understanding of human nature.

Writing Creative Nonfiction

Bringing together the imaginative strategies of fiction storytelling and new ways of narrating true, real-life events, creative nonfiction is the fastest-growing part of the creative writing world. It's a cutting-edge genre that's reshaping how we write (and read) everything from biographies and memoirs to blogs and public speaking scripts to personal essays and magazine articles.

Writing Vivid Settings: Writer's Craft

Do you want your readers to feel like they're really there - in the place where the story happens? Whether you want to enrich stark prose with atmospheric detail, add vibrancy to a dull piece, or curb waffling descriptions, this guide can help. Learn how to make your settings intense, realistic, and intriguing. This is the 10th book in Rayne Hall's acclaimed Writer's Craft series.

The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought

In the years between her first public lecture in 1961 and her last in 1981, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as different as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces are gathered together in book form for the first time. Written in the last decades of Rand's life, they reflect a life lived on principle, a probing mind, and a passionate intensity. With them are five essays by Leonard Peikoff, Rand's longtime associate and literary executor.

Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction: The Red Sneaker Writers Book Series, Volume 1

"Writing is structure,” William Goldman said, but too often aspiring writers plunge into their work without grasping this fundamental principle. Story structure is one of the most important concepts for a writer to understand - and ironically, one of the least frequently taught. In this book, New York Times best-selling author William Bernhardt explains the elements that make stories work, using examples spanning from Gilgamesh to The Hunger Games.

The Fountainhead

One of the 20th century's most challenging novels of ideas, The Fountainhead champions the cause of individualism through the story of a gifted young architect who defies the tyranny of conventional public opinion. The struggle for personal integrity in a world that values conformity above creativity is powerfully illustrated through three characters: Howard Roarke, a genius; Gail Wynand, a newspaper mogul and self-made millionaire; and Dominique Francon, a devastating beauty.

Equal Is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality

We've all heard that the American Dream is vanishing, and that the cause is rising income inequality. The rich are getting richer by rigging the system in their favor, leaving the rest of us to struggle just to keep our heads above water. To save the American Dream, we're told that we need to fight inequality through tax hikes, wealth redistribution schemes, and a far higher minimum wage.

The DIM Hypothesis: Why the Lights of the West Are Going Out

In his groundbreaking and controversial book The DIM Hypothesis, Dr. Leonard Peikoff casts a penetrating new light on the process of human thought and thereby on Western culture and history. In this far-reaching study, Peikoff identifies the three methods people use to integrate concrete data into a whole, as when connecting diverse experiments by a scientific theory, separate laws into a constitution, or single events into a story.

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

For over 40 years, Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan has inspired audiences to expand their world view beyond traditional Western forms. Originally published as Castaneda’s master’s thesis in anthropology, Teachings documents Castaneda’s supposed apprenticeship with a Yaqui Indian sorcerer, don Juan Matus. Dividing the work into two sections, Castaneda begins by describing don Juan’s philosophies, then continues with his own reflections.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

The prolific, perennially best selling author recounts his early life and writing struggles, gives advice on the crucial aspects of the writing art, and talks about his much-publicized, near-fatal accident.

Publisher's Summary

In 1958, and again in 1969, Ayn Rand gathered a small group of her friends and acquaintances and gave an informal course on writing. At once a fascinating philosophical discourse on the art of creation and an invaluable guide for the aspiring writer, these edited transcripts are a treasure that will challenge, edify, and illuminate the way to more powerful writing.

Ayn Rand discusses how a writer combines abstract ideas with concrete action and description to achieve a unity of theme, plot, characterization, and style, the four essential elements of fiction. Here, too, are Rand's illuminating analyses of passages from famous writers, rewrites of scenes from her own works, and fascinating rules for building dramatic plots and characters with depth.

First, let me say there are very good nuggets of information in this book. The problem is that the nuggets are hard to hear over her huge ego. 90% of this book is her tearing apart other people's work and never giving any examples of how it could have been done better. The book also gets political from out of nowhere. I'm sure there is good information here, but I struggled to finish listening to this book. If you want to listen to a book on techniques and strategies, I would suggest listening to Stein in Writing. Yes, Sol Stein has the huge ego too, but at least he gives examples to help the listener.

I had to get past her ego as a great (if not the greatest) writer as she offered advice on how to write better by using examples of what she considered bad writing. They are really good examples of awful writing that somehow got published. I've already listened to Sol Stein on Writing and they do differ on opinions in certain areas, but they offer the same essential advice. I'm not a fan of either of her novels but she is knowledgeable about her field. I prefer Sol Stein as my writing instructor, but this is a decent and worthwhile listen. I listened a second time with pen and paper in hand to take notes.

Another must for anyone with an interest in writing and Rand, truly one of the densest and most stimulating writers to this day. Just glance at the love and hate she inspires. While you will not be made into a little Ayn, you will gain insights into how she structures approaching writing fiction. Some of the text even delves into the motivations for writing. Her advice is poignant and delivered in her standard direct style. I highly recommend.

The Art of Fiction gives writers (and readers) tools for thinking about how writing is done, and specially how Ms. Rand wrote. If you read her books, you will particularly find her insights to her own works very helpful. She is speaking of "romantic" literature as opposed to "naturalistic" literature, and shows the differences in the purposes of these types of literature. Much of the criticisms leveled at a book such as "Atlas Shrugged" can be understood in light of the specific type of literature that Ms. Rand wrote, and the purposes of such a type.

I read the reviews before I purchased the book, and find the criticism to be a bit strange. Yes, Arn Rand thinks she is a good writer, and shows examples of other writings that she deemed require improvement - one would expect as much given the purpose of the personal talks that she gave to a group of friends and interested acquaintances that were later edited into this book. The book is short and rather episodic, rather than flowing - again a product of the converting informal lectures into a book.

In any case, as someone who wanted to use the book to become a better reader, I found it very insightful as a reader in general, and specifically as a reader of Ms. Rand.

The author of this book has nothing but arrogant contempt for both the reader and her literary peers. In her opinion she has no peers or equal. It is very hard to get anything from this book unless you are true masochist.

I was thrilled to have stumbled upon this. To actually hear Ayn Rand's words as she expresses her thoughts about the art of writing. I'm not saying that I agree completely with everything that she says or that what used to work for a writer decades ago still applies today but definitely still amazingly powerful and valuable to be able to hear her thoughts and opinions. Loved every minute of it and will undoubtedly listen to it again.

I enjoy Ayn Rand's work, especially on audio. I have listened to Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead many times. Each of these are epic in scope (and volume, A. S. is over 50 hours!) I couldn't even finish this. I don't know if it was the narrator or the the style of the writing, which isn't strictly written as if she spoke it in a series, but from what I understood much was culled from other sources beside study groups. I waited a long time for this as it dropped from Audible for a while. It came back, I got it, and boy, do I ever regret it.

Gees, I guess according to A. Rand there's hardly anybody else out there that can write like she can. Yes she's good but she would be the type of teacher where every student would turn out a book strangely similar to hers. Sorry, but that's not releasing the imagination to run with good and individualized stories in my understanding of the process.

I really feel this statement ("Not worth you money or time") may be the biggest understatement of all time - I found this lady very hard to follow. I had one very small aha moment amongst an AVALANCHE OF MIND NUMBINGLY BORING LISTENING. (AND I MUST STRESS IT WAS A VERY SMALL MOMENT) This lady has a very high opinion of her own writing but if any of her long excerts that she reads out as examples are anything to go on then she's really not all that. Its up to you but I would really reccommend saving your money on this one and highly reccomment that you buy and listen to Stein on writing. A FAR SUPERIOR BOOK!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough - FAR SUPERIOR!!!!!!!! (With Stein you will get the one small aha moment I got from Rand and many more to boot) PLUS HE WONT BORE THE PANTS OFF YOU!!!!!!

If you've ever struggled with writing plot structure in a novel, you will find Ayn Rand's discussion of plot structure most valuable. In this classic "period" piece, her comments on story structure still hold true. AR's discussion of selfishness-as-virtue is a little hard to take, but whether or not you agree with the philosophy of selfishness, the woman knows her craft as a writer. This is a discussion you'll want to hear over and over, as it is fascinating for writers and readers alike.